Chinese Black Bean Chicken is a lightened version of the classic Cantonese recipe made with easy stir fry ingredients in less than 30 minutes!
We are loving all the Chinese takeout recipes on the blog including our favorites; Skinny Sesame Chicken and Skinny Kung Pao Chicken.
 Chinese Black Bean Chicken
 Chinese Black Bean ChickenBlack Bean Chicken has long been one of the go to dishes for those watching their points in Chinese restaurants. The stir fry is infinitely healthier than most Chinese food options that are fried. Second the dish is FULL of great vegetables that add a ton of bulk to the dish with no added points.
Chinese Black Bean Chicken Stir-Fry:
Chinese Black Pepper chicken is a quick and easy Asian Chicken stir-fry with vegetables made with sesame oil and fresh garlic and garlic along with a punch of fermented black beans. While it may look like a complicated sauce, the hardest part is slicing the steak and vegetables before cooking.
As with any stir fry I suggest having everything prepared before you start heating up your skillet/wok as the cooking process goes quickly and to preserve the fresh and tender vegetables you can’t let them cook too long.
Can you use black bean sauce instead of fermented black beans?
Yes you can substitute black bean sauce for fermented black beans, but if you do also cut back on the garlic by half. You don’t want the garlic flavor to be too prevalent.
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What to serve with Chinese Black Bean Chicken:
- Serve it over your favorite steamed vegetables or even cauliflower rice.
- Serve over zucchini noodles that get tossed in the sauce from the dish.
- Serve over brown rice or (we did this once and loved it) hollow out an eggplant (salt and drain it, then spray cooking spray on it and cook it in the oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve this chicken stir-fry in the eggplant half like a bowl.
Can you meal prep this Chinese Black Bean Chicken?
You can certainly cook the meal ahead of time and re-heat throughout the week. I suggest cooking the vegetables one minute shy of the instructions so it can maintain some crunch in reheating. To reheat use a microwave at half power for 1-2 minutes to prevent overcooking the chicken or the bell peppers.
How to cut chicken thinly:
This dish is customarily made with chicken thighs but for our purposes we are using chicken breast meat. The trick to making it look like it came from the restaurant is to freeze the chicken for about one hour. When it is partially frozen you can easily slice the chicken very thinly against the grain. Don’t worry about the chicken being frozen, since the slices are so thin they will thaw back out in just a couple of minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 pound chicken breasts boneless skinless
- 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 red bell pepper cut into 1" chunks
- 1 green bell pepper cut into 1" chunks
- 1 yellow onion cut into 1" chunks
- 4 tablespoons fermented black beans rinsed
- 1 tablespoon rice wine
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
- sesame seeds for garnish optional
Instructions
- Cut the chicken into paper thin slices and mix with the soy sauce.
- Add the canola oil and sesame oil to the pan on medium-high heat.
- Add the chicken and cook quickly, about 2-3 minutes per side.
- Remove the chicken to a plate and add in the garlic, bell peppers and onion to the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add the black beans to the pan along with the rice wine, red pepper flakes and rice vinegar to the pan.
- Add the chicken and stir all the ingredients together until everything is well combined.
Nutrition
This looks incredible! I’ve been craving a chinese recipe…making this soon!
What a great way to skip the take-out and make dinner at home.
Love a good dish that can be made simply at home.
This is just up my alley! Looks wonderful!
This would be a new favorite for weeknights! Looks really flavorful!
Ooooo loving the flavors in this dish! I can’t wait to try it!
I have to put this on my menu!
If you are using black bean sauce, which ingredients would you omit and how much would you use? I am making this tonight.
I’m so sorry I didn’t see this. It looks like a bulk of my messages ended up in a spam folder. I haven’t made this with a bean sauce but I would love to hear how it turned out.
Delicious. Good balance of flavors. We will definitely make this again. Thank you for a great recipe.
Happy to see you enjoyed and that it will be on repeat for you!